Friendbots: Blink and Block Make a Wish by Vicky Fang

Robbin Friedman is the head of children's services at the Chappaqua Library. She has written for Horn Book and School Library Journal, chairs ALSC's Budget Committee, and reads a lot of science fiction.

It’s a classic story. The perky optimist meets the dour naysayer and the two become friends. Vicky Fang’s version of the well-loved trope features two robots with simple, expressive shapes, a sunny circle and a morose square who cross paths in the schoolyard. Purple square Block sits alone, watching the other boisterous bots, when blue circle Blink appears, using a sensor to scan the ground for treasure. Block reacts to each of Blink’s finds with predictable gloom (“That’s . . . a gum wrapper/With old gum in it”) but Blink persists. When they unearth a penny, Blink spins the discovery into the opportunity to make a wish. Though Block concludes the wish has been a bust (“I don’t see any gold. Or silver. Or gems!”), Blink knows better: The upbeat bot had really wished for a new friend. The visuals match the narrative in lively simplicity. A straightforward comics format and generic backgrounds keep the focus squarely on the friends, with one or both robots centered in each symmetrical panel. Word balloons offer a clear, non-serif font with ample white space and occasional bold words. In a potentially confusing decision, the word balloons are white when set against the schoolyard background but have a tinted hue matching their speaker when set against a white bleed panel. This means that the same robot may have different-colored speech balloons within the same spread. New comics readers may find the switch confusing, though the placement and balloon tails help clarify the speaker. The word choice includes some challenging vocabulary words (wrapper, probably, treasure) with minimal repetition, so this text works best for kids already comfortable with basic sight words. But the book also supports learning around comics literacy and robots. An opening page explains cartooning basics, in small text most likely designed for adults to share with kids. Back matter explains “What is a sensor?” highlighting the mechanical features both robots used to search for treasure. With a popular format and modern-age protagonists--what else could robots be?--this updated take on a classic trope might just ping those Geisel sensors.